A Study of the Experience of Working Adults on Regular Choral Activities: Applying Focus Groups.

Abstract

Maintaining a high quality of work and life can be a challenge for working adults. Most working adults do not have the opportunity to participate in activities that promote physical and emotional health. Working adults need to improve their potential to maintain life satisfaction and prevent a variety of stresses and physical illnesses. Recent research has suggested the effective value of art participation through choral activities for many people. However, little is known about what working adults experience through choir activities. In particular, research focusing on effects of choir participation on healthy people is lacking, and there is insufficient fundamental evidence about how to develop choral programs to improve the quality of healthy people’s lives. The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of working adults in the process of regularly participating in choral activities. Our research question is “What experiences did the participants gain from the choir activities?”. Data was collected in three focus group interviews and additional individual interviews with 15 participants. Four themes emerged from this study: “self-improvement and sense of accomplishment”, “interaction and harmony”, “discovery of positive self-identity”, and “healing and happiness”. These findings could encourage choir activity in working adults and suggest that they can be applied as lifelong activities that can improve their quality of life with social interaction.